I’ve bought the XT Di2 upgrade kit and thought I’d check for chain wear, I’ve got an e-bike and have done 478 miles on the chain, I’ve heard they wear a lot faster.
I put the chain wear tool I’ve bought into the chain and 0.75 goes into the chain after pushing it down. I’ve got a 12 speed cassette, I’ve read that you should change the chain when it goes to 0.50, when I use the tool should it just drop into the chain to get the reading?
Even though I’ve been riding Mtn bikes for at least 30 years I’ve never changed just the chain, I’ve changed it all when the gears slip.
12 speed is meant to be changed at 0.5 wear but not all chain tools are that accurate
It should just fall in and not need to be pushed
E-bike drivetrain will wear faster, ways to help it last longer is regular cleaning and oiling, shift gently and not under load
The higher end Sram chains seem to last a lot longer than their Shimano equivalent
You can do what you have done in the past and just ride until it begins to slip before replacing the whole drivetrain but id still keep cleaning everything regularly and pay close attention to the chain and remove it from the bike for cleaning and inspect for and signs of cracking plates etc….
I highly recomend that you buy a decent chain that will far outlast the cheap ones and not damage the drivetrain.
I personally use a SRAM X01 on my ebike and it's running a Shimano cassette.
You will get a few thousand miles out of it.
£40 from Hopkingsons last time I looked.
XTR are also very good.
Before I discovered how good they were, I was killing a chain every 500 miles.
Based on my riding mate, who is not at all mechanically sympathetic, keeping out of the smallest cog as much as possible will keep the drivetrain going for longer. Once that cog starts skipping the game is up.
If you get a new chain now and it runs fine that's great. If it skips put the old chain back on and ride it into the ground. Save the new chain for the new cassette.
Cheers all.
I’ve just bought an XT chain so will try that and hopefully that will be ok. If not I’ll put the old one back on and run it into the ground.
The only issue I could have is that the cages on my current XT rear mech and the new XT Di 2 rear mech aren’t the same length, making the chain too short if I have to put the old one back on. I’m guessing they will be, but I don’t know for sure.
Changing the chain when indicated by the chain checker should mean you can get through several chains before the cassette and chain rings are knackered.
Waiting until it starts slipping is the complete other end of the spectrum and your chain checker would be waggling all over the place.
My take on it in the past was that it was cheaper to run everything into that ground and replace all at once, but with more expensive wide range cassettes and nw chainrings I suspect it’s now cheaper to go through more chains and extend the life of the drivetrain.
+1 for Sram X01 chain, I've only used Sram gx cassette personally but its lasted a lot longer than the GX chain that came on the bike
+1 top spec chains last way longer than others and easily justify the additional spend 10 times over. I’ve got SRAM X01 chains that have done 4000 miles plus and still show virtually zero wear. I wax my chains though as well.
Chain checker until the 0.5 drops in, then switch to a 12" rule to check the actual wear (i actually have a 50cm...).
Chain Checkers are notoriously inaccurate.
+1 top spec chains last way longer than others and easily justify the additional spend 10 times over. I’ve got SRAM X01 chains that have done 4000 miles plus and still show virtually zero wear. I wax my chains though as well.
And your legs?
I guess that’s an analogue though? Mines on an e-bike
Zero Friction Cycling has a "chain wear checker" comparison. Some of the tools are next to useless. Some are good though.
Thanks again everyone
Fitted the XT Di 2 mech and shifter and after a bit of stress with slipping gears it’s all good now. Only had a quick spin around the block but will ride to work next week to see if the chain is ok.
The one mistake I made was that I should’ve cleaned the cassette when it was on the wheel, the new 12 speed cassettes are so much more faff than the 10 speed I have on my Kona.
